Chapter 041 Down the Cave
I waited in the room for another hour, but still nothing happened.
I was extremely anxious, walking around, and then I just strolled around the house that Tongsuo rented. It was obvious that Tongsuo had no intention of staying in this house for a long time, and there was no furniture at all, only a simple camp bed and some toiletries. I found an ordinary flashlight under his bed, which was definitely not as bright as a professional flashlight, but it was enough.
I came to the living room and circled around the hole. Should I go down? I definitely didn't have gloves. If I slid down along this thin rope, my hands would be injured. And I was in a hurry and didn't even have a partner with me. If I really got lost in there, I would be finished.
But if I don't go down, I'll feel upset. Seeing such a hole here, my mind is full of all kinds of random thoughts. I really can't sit still.
After much thought, I gave up the idea of going down to explore alone. If something happened, it would cause trouble for others. I decided to wait and see.
I went to the inner room, dragged out the camp bed, placed it next to the hole, then lay on the bed and shone the flashlight into the deep hole. I could only see the abandoned old wall, which was mottled and eerie, and nothing else.
I turned off the flashlight, hugged my shoulders and dozed off on the bed, listening to the noises below. Later, I didn't even know when I fell asleep.
When I got up again, the sun was shining in from outside. I felt dizzy and it took me a long time to recover after sitting up. Looking at the unfamiliar scene in front of me, I was in a trance and even forgot where I was.
It took a long time for my memory to slowly come back to me. I suddenly looked at the clock and it was six o'clock in the morning. The room was quiet, and there was no sign of anyone else except me.
My mind buzzed. That means the three people who went down into the cave last night never came back!
I stood up from the bed and looked for my shoes, and suddenly found something wrong. There was a row of light footprints on the ground, coming out of the cave and winding forward out of the door.
Last night while I was sleeping, someone crawled out of a hole, right next to me?! and walked out.
Because of the hole dug, there was a fine layer of cement on the ground. The person who came out of the hole obviously didn't notice this. He was just being careful not to wake me up and didn't expect to leave footprints.
I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead and carefully followed the footprints to the door. There was no cement outside and only shallow footprints were left there, as if the person had evaporated into thin air in the corridor.
I went back to the living room, picked up a hammer for self-defense, and carefully checked the entire house inside and out. There was indeed no one there, only me.
Then, there is only one possibility, that the man went out through the main gate after coming out of the cave.
I thought about it calmly and decided that it couldn't be one of Li Daming, Li Yang and Tongsuo. If it was them, they would have woken me up after coming out and talked about their experiences, instead of leaving so quietly.
In other words, there are other people in the huge space of the three floors below.
This is actually normal. I don't believe that such a large space would exist for so many years after being sealed. At least the property and the builder of this building know this secret. Such a large space will definitely be used. I suddenly thought of a possibility. Could it be that some organization is engaged in illegal activities here, such as a drug processing factory? After the three of them entered, they were discovered and must have been killed.
Thinking of this, I trembled all over and felt helpless.
The longer I stayed in this room, the more uncomfortable I felt. I always felt like someone was watching me. The criminals tortured Li Daming and the other two and asked them how they got in. They could not get away with it. If they asked them that, the criminals would find this place right away...
The more I thought about it, the more scared I became. My whole body was shaking. What should I do? Call the police?
I quickly dismissed the idea. If I guessed wrong and called the police, Li Damin would blame me to death later.
I thought about it and decided to just go down and take a look! It would be a real pain to wait here, so I might as well give it a try.
I went to the inner room and found a notebook and pen. I tore off a page and left a message on it, saying that I was going down the hole and that someone had sneaked into the room last night. Once the three of them came back and saw the message, they would know that I was gone.
It would not be possible without gloves. I remembered that there seemed to be a hardware store outside the community, where I could buy work gloves. It was better than nothing.
I didn't have a key, so I didn't lock the door when I went out. I used a small wooden block to pad the corner of the door to prevent it from being locked. It should be fine. Lang Lang was in the daytime, and he wouldn't be so quick to sneak in and pick the lock.
I took the elevator all the way to the first floor, and walked out of the building. The bright sunlight outside almost made me faint. I didn't sleep well last night, and I was still a little dizzy. I went out of the community and found a hardware store. There were actually labor protection gloves for sale, so I bought two pairs. By the way, I went to the supermarket and bought a set of five water-based pens.
When I got back to the building and was about to get into the elevator, I suddenly heard someone shout, "Young man, slow down."
I saw a plain-looking man running over, so I quickly stopped the elevator and waited for him to come up. There were only two of us in the elevator, and I was about to press the ninth floor button, but the man was one step ahead of me and pressed the ninth floor button first.
For some reason, my heart skipped a beat, and I had an inexplicable feeling. After a moment of hesitation, I pressed the button for the thirteenth floor.
The elevator went up one floor at a time, no one spoke, I stood at the side and looked at this man, thinking, is he a resident of the ninth floor? Could it be related to me? Is this too sensitive?
"Ding" sounded, we reached the ninth floor, the door opened, and the man stood at the elevator entrance without leaving. I looked at him, my mind went blank for a moment, without any thoughts.
"Some things." The man suddenly said, "If you don't need to understand, then don't understand. Just live your life well, right?"
Before I could react, he stepped out of the elevator. The elevator door slowly closed.
I shuddered, and I didn't know where the impulse came from. At the moment the elevator door closed, I held the door tightly with my hands. The elevator door slowly opened again, and I saw the man's back walking forward and turning around the corridor.
What he just said was obviously directed to me. I had a strong intuition that he was the person who sneaked out of the cave.
I pushed open the elevator door and hurriedly chased after him, but when I reached the corridor, the man had disappeared. He must have gone into someone's house.
I walked carefully, observing the ground at the door of each house, hoping to find a clue, but I found nothing. Finally, I came to Tongsuo's rental house, and when I reached the door, my heart skipped a beat. Could that person have come in here?
I looked at the door and it was still ajar. I opened it, removed the wooden block from the door, and locked it, my heart pounding.
The room was still quiet, and the three people probably hadn't come out yet. There was an indescribable atmosphere in the air of the whole room, like a terrifying swamp slowly spreading. I went to the living room and carefully observed the cement floor. Those marks were left in the morning, indicating that no one had been here just now.
I rubbed my temples, wondering if I was too sensitive. I was always so suspicious and my nerves were almost going crazy.
Looking at the time, it was already past seven in the morning. They had dug the cave at around nine last night, so it had been ten hours since then. Even at a snail's pace, they should have gotten out. Something must have happened inside.
I turned on the flashlight and shone it into the hole. I mustered up my courage, put on my gloves, and pulled the rope. The labor gloves were very wear-resistant, and I could hardly feel the friction of the rope in my hands. I took a deep breath and carefully got into the hole. My whole body was hanging on the rope, swaying as I followed the rope down. Both shoulders were sore. I finally got to the bottom and my feet landed on the ground.
It was pitch black all around here, so I quickly took out the flashlight and pushed the button, dimly illuminating the darkness on all sides. I could see the mottled walls, which had been so old that the paint had fallen off, revealing the cement color inside. I walked around the corner with the flashlight, and the air was fresh, which was very strange. If it was a sealed three-story building with four closed sides, the air would definitely be very dirty, making it difficult to breathe, but there was no peculiar smell.
When I got to the corner, I took out the water-based pen I bought and drew an arrow on the wall. This suddenly occurred to me last night. My father once said that when you go on an adventure in an unfamiliar environment, you must remember to mark the map.
After drawing the arrow, I went in along the corner. There were long walls on both sides. I couldn't see any doors or windows, nor could I see any houses. It formed a corridor-like place.
I recalled the terrain carefully. According to the normal layout of buildings, I should be walking in the residents' homes, but there is no sign of any house structure here.
Well, it is very likely that this place has been renovated, all the houses have been demolished and rearranged.
I walked along the corridor for a long distance, marking the corridor every five meters or so, but I still hadn't finished walking through the whole corridor, which shouldn't have been necessary.
The scene around me didn't change at all. There were still high walls on both sides and a dark and gloomy corridor in the middle. Only my flashlight was shaking and flickering in the middle.
